Facts About the State Report Card

Numerous letters and articles have been released by school superintendents statewide disputing the results of the recently released State Report Cards.  We would like to take this opportunity to inform our community about the way these scores are generated and reported. 

One of the most challenging mandates handed to us in recent years by State and Federal authorities is the increased focus on testing.  Our Board of Education, administrative team and staff believe that we must be held accountable for the success of our students, but we feel strongly that the tests mandated by the State of Ohio do not portray an accurate picture of student achievement in Vermilion. 

In August we received our first report of the AIR test scores from tests that were administered in February and March 2016 to students in grades 3 through 11. The AIR test replaced the troubled PARCC test that was required in 2015.  As we evaluated the AIR scores, many seemed to have glaring inconsistencies.  For example, the English II scores for high school students were reported at a 60% passage rate on the AIR test.  The PARCC scores from the previous year showed a 75.3% passage rate for the same group of students.  How are we, as a community, to believe that scores could vary by such a large margin, especially when we were assured the AIR test was a much less rigorous test?  The same question came up as we looked at scores for social studies and math at all grade levels. 

Other examples of results that raised questions and concerns about the scoring methods are:

• ·        The majority of our special needs students (those with an IEP) did not pass the math exam. Social studies scores for special needs students were much higher on the AIR test than on the previous year PARCC tests.                                                   
• ·        The Report Card score includes a penalty for any student who did not take the test because the parent chose to “opt out”.  The State permits parents to “opt out”, but the school district is penalized on the Report Card grade for students who did not take the test.                                                                                               
• ·        The new “Prepared for Success” measure looks at students over a two year period.  In late June, the state made a change in how the second year data was to be reported, but districts were not permitted to update data derived from the first year.  As a result, improvements made by districts, such as adding additional college-level courses, are not considered or included in this year’s score.                           
• ·        The Achievement metric measures how well students performed on state tests. Federal guidelines have expanded testing, adding nine additional tests in all content area, and Ohio has changed test types three times in as many years. This passage rate will change for the 4^th time in the spring of 2017.  This is analogous to an architect changing the building plans for a high rise every time the builders start a new floor.  Imagine how confusing and difficult this would be for the building inspectors. There is no consistent measure of excellence.  In other words, while teaching and learning standards have remained constant in local districts, assessment requirements have repeatedly changed, making it very difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate and improve instruction methods.                                                   
• ·        The K-3 Literacy Rate compares the results of a student’s preliminary reading assessment to their proficiency on the Grade 3 test.  However, the new AIR test incorporates reading and writing.  This Report Card measure is flawed in that it compares a rate based on a reading score to one based on a reading AND writing score.  As a result, the calculated score does not reflect actual literacy attainment.  The target for achievement will change again next year to an even higher passage rate.                                                                                                                    

Tests are given only one day of the year and are not a true measure of a student’s ability.  However, they are used as the basis of the State Report Card grade for districts statewide.  Since all public school districts are provided with only final test scores, which are returned to us months after testing, our teachers and administrators cannot use the results to accurately evaluate student performance or to improve instruction.  The present method required by the State is a violation of everything we know about effective teaching and evaluation techniques.  

In Vermilion we have used the MAP test in Kindergarten to grade 8 to inform instruction.  The MAP test measures academic progress of each student.  The results are returned to us very quickly, allowing our team of teachers and administrators to identify areas of strength and weakness and make instructional adjustments at a grade level, specific subject area or for individual students.  The MAP results give us a true picture of whether or not students have achieved one year of growth for one year of instruction.

State required AIR and PARCC tests are given only at the end of the school year.  The results are not returned to us until months later, and therefore, are not useful to inform instruction for subject levels or individual students.  We are given no information about the way the tests are scored, or how each student performed.  In order to evaluate and learn from testing, it is important to see every student’s test to evaluate his/her strengths and weaknesses.  For example, we find it difficult to improve third grade writing scores when we have no information about how the state test was evaluated or scored.  The data used to create the State Report Card is therefore flawed and unreliable.  The State of Ohio’s approach to assessing student achievement is in direct conflict with all of the educational research on evaluating and improving instruction.  This method of testing one subject, on a single day, defies all best practice teaching methods.

The Plain Dealer recently used the statewide Report Card scores to rank schools from a 4.0 to 0.0 grade point average.  Vermilion was 176 out of 608 schools ranked in this study.  We are not citing these statistics to say that we are better than other districts, but merely to demonstrate that there is something wrong with a reporting system that grades only 205 schools at 2.0 GPA or better (the equivalent of a “C” average).  When this many grades are average or below, educators know that they have to evaluate the test itself, not the test takers. 

This is the first time Vermilion educators have spoken out about this issue.  We do not wish to appear to be making excuses by sharing this information with the community.  We know very well that we must be accountable to our parents and taxpayers.  We continue to work hard, on a daily basis, to provide the very best education we can to all of our students.  However, we also believe that we have reached a tipping point with State and Federal authorities through their unreasonable demands.  At this time we will be joining forces with public school educators statewide to make our thoughts known to the Ohio Department of Education and the Governor’s office.  We will keep you informed about this important discussion.